Omija punch with pear

Omija-hwachae 오미자화채

I went to Mungyeong in Korea to learn more about omija, my favorite berries. I’ve been putting about 1 teaspoon omija in my green smoothie every morning for a while.

In English they are known as Schisandra berries or five flavor berries because they taste sour, salty, sweet, spicy, and bitter. Yes, all five tastes in each berry! Mungyeong county is where most of the Korean omija is grown, and I went to an omija farm to see how they grow them.

This recipe is for a refreshing omija punch with pear and noodles. A lot of people like omija for their many health benefits but in Korea we’ve long made punch from them, because the ice cold punch really quenches your thirst, and with pear (or peach) and honey, it makes a nice dessert. The mung bean jelly noodles make it more delicious and give it a pleasurable texture, making it fun to drink and chew, kind of like aloe gel.

Fresh omija is hard to find outside of Korea, especially out of season, but you can find it dried in Korean grocery stores or at Amazon. The farm that I visited said they will be exporting their omija drinks and berries to America soon.

5 Comments:

Wow, next time I´m in Quito, I gotto ask my korean shopkeeper if he has Omija!

But what I enjoyed most in the video, were the views of korean landscape and nature! Never imagined that Korea was sooo gorgeous! Falling in love with Korea! Maangchi: must be hard for you to return to a place like NY City after visiting your home country. Reckon, you´ll be homesick for a while…

Well, I´m glad for you that you´re so adaptable to your surroundings. Personally, I´m a country boy, finally found my place in Nature after living 50 years of city life. I´d die in NYC. In the pic: view from my front yard.